Panic as 30 Suspects Escape SARS Detention Facility in Lagos

Pandemonium erupted on Wednesday at the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) office of the Lagos State Police Command when 30 out of the 250 detainees broke out of their cells and escaped.

This was contrary to claims by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, that the command had transferred all suspects to the detention facility of the State Criminal and

Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba.

The CP had on Wednesday night through the Police Spokesman, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, issued a statement that suspects in all tactical squads under the command had been transferred to Panti.

But earlier that day, escaped suspects, who were arrested on grounds of armed robbery, kidnapping and murder, were said to have lured the station officer (SO) on duty to open the overcrowded facility.

The suspected were screaming at the top of their voices that they were in danger, and this lured the SO to open their cell and he was quickly overpowered by the detainees, who badly manhandled him.

THISDAY gathered that there was inadequate number of policemen at the squad complex to nab the escaping suspects because the former SARS operatives were on standby, waiting for instructions concerning their deployment.

With their withdrawal from duty, few mobile policemen were deployed to SARS building at the command to watch over the detention facility.

Having trooped out of their cells, some of the detainees invaded different offices and escaped with laptops and even some weapons like machetes recovered as exhibits, which they used to attack the few mobile policemen that tried to stop them.

Though the mobile policemen opened fire into the air to stop them in their tracks, about 30 of them escaped while the others were successfully rounded up.

Explaining why the compact SARS facility had such number of detainees, a police source blamed it on the COVID-19 pandemic.